Blue Heron Sings Music for Three Sovereigns at Syracuse University, March 27

-- a glimpse into the rich musical worlds of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and his daughter Marguerite, Regent of the Netherlands. The program features sacred music by Josquin, Senfl, Isaac, and Obrecht – published in 1520, and among the choicest pieces of the Emperor’s chapel. From Marguerite’s songbooks, there are noble and moving settings by Josquin, Mouton, and others of the last words of Dido, tragic queen of Carthage. As audiences will hear, Dido’s poignant “Lament,” drawn from Virgil’s Aeneid and known to modern music lovers in its famous setting by Purcell, was equally compelling in the hands of master composers of the Renaissance. The singers of the ensemble will be accompanied by cornetto and trombone.